• Eskom has handed over loadshedding responsibilities to City Power.
• This means that some areas of the metro will only experience two hour blocks of loadshedding at Stage 5 and above rather than four hour blocks.
• Unfortunately, due to the infrastructure, 17 areas will still experience four hour blocks of loadshedding at higher stages.

On Monday, Eskom and City Power issued a joint announcement that made residents of the metro rather pleased.

The national power utility announced that it was handing over loadshedding operations for the region to City Power. The result of this move is that regions controlled by City Power will remain at two hour blocks of loadshedding even when the frequency of power cuts rises to Stage 5 and above.

However, not all regions that fall under City Power’s purview will enjoy this reduced length of loadshedding when we hit Stage 5 and above. According to Eskom and City Power, “the configuration and technical complexities” of the energy network mean that some regions will have to continue suffering four hour blocks of power cuts at higher loadshedding levels.

These areas are:

1. Lufhereng (Roodepoort)
2. Tshepisong
3. Hoogland
4. Maroeladal
5. Morningside
6. Riverclub
7. Dainfern
8. Bloubosrand
9. Waterford Estate
10. Riverbend
11. Kyasands
12. Bellairspark (Randburg)
13. Halfway House
14. Halfway Gardens
15. Vorna Valley
16. Willowway (Midrand)
17. Marlboro Transit Camp (Alexandra)

“The two entities will keep exploring technical solutions that will enable City Power to take over the loadshedding operations of its remaining customers. City Power has its processes, systems, and technical capacity in place to take over the added loadshedding operations as part of the new schedule,” Eskom and City Power said in a joint statement.

As a result of these changes, City Power’s loadshedding schedule will change but customers will need to wait until 6th November to see those schedules. We’re curious to see how City Power balances loadshedding at higher stages and whether residents will see more frequent loadshedding.

Of course, the province has been building out solutions in a bid to alleviate the effects of loadshedding but it’s not clear if this is the reason City Power can reduce the length of loadshedding blocks at higher frequencies.

On Tuesday morning, City Power asked customers to reduce their energy use given the cold weather and rain currently battering the province.

[Image – gryffyn m on Unsplash]